Ash's Journey
by forever insane123
Summary: What would happen if Pikachu wasn't Ash's first Pokemon? What if he found a strange egg long before his journey even began? And what if there was more to his father than originally thought?


**Hey all, Forever Insane here with my first ever co-ed story, my co author, Shadow12, has helped me immensely when has come to my grammar and spelling, and has given me several ideas for future chapters as well. So a big thank you to him for helping me. Also I' m not sure as to when new updates will come see as the state assessments have arrived at my school and i barley had time to write this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the associated series. **

**Now, to the story!**

* * *

**Chapter**** 1: The Legacy Begins**

Our story begins around a small town in the Kanto region; this town was called Pallet. Being more like a small village than an actual town the area only had a few streets and a few dozen houses with a couple of small families and was surrounded by an immense forest.

And in this immense forest we find a small boy of five walking along the well worn path. His short, spiky raven colored hair swaying softly in the early morning breeze as his amber colored eyes sparkled with innocence as he walked along the dirt path. His name was Ash Ketchum, son of Delia Ketchum and had big dreams of one day becoming a Pokémon master.

His reason for being up so early instead of sleeping in like many of the children his age would prefer to do was simple. He was looking for anything that looked cool and would help him in his future journey as a trainer. After all, it was as his father said before he disappeared, "those who are well versed in the ways of Pokémon are sure to succeed, but it helps to keep a watchful eye out for anything that might help in that endeavor".

The young boy smiled in remembrance of his father, he didn't remember much about what his father was like, but his mother had said that he was a kind and caring person, who had a large heart for both people and Pokémon alike and was loyal to a fault.

Every now and then Ash would find himself wondering what his father had been doing when he disappeared and had asked his mother just that many times before. But his mother would only get a sad look in her eyes and tell him that he was doing something for the greater good and he would understand when he was older before turning smiling and looking up at the sky in remembrance.

Ash was broken from his thoughts when he spotted something lying in the middle of the forest path in front of him and he stopped and stooped down to pick up the unknown item, however, just as he was about to touch it his attention was suddenly drawn to his left when a bright light appeared from nowhere.

Ash stood up in confusion. Being the curious child he always had been he completely forgot about the previous item and started walking toward the area where he saw the light appear.

When he got closer, he could see a round oval shaped object lying on a soft pile of grass. It was white with two light blue stripes on either side while the rest of it was a light grey in color. And in some weird way Ash felt it radiating a mysterious power and unbeknownst to him the clouds above the area had turned a dark grey.

He picked it up and starting looking at it closely. Due to his mother, and by proxy him, volunteering as an assistant at professor Oak's ranch, he knew this to be a Pokémon egg, but the egg's appearance didn't match any of those that he had seen before.

_'I bet Professor Oak would know which Pokémon laid this egg.'_Ash thought as he tucked the egg under his arm, turned and began to retrace his steps to the lab, hopefully he'd be in town before his mother woke up.

However, little did Ash know but he hadn't been alone in the area. A dark figure had watched him before his depart though held no ill intentions towards the small boy.

The figure sighed as a much larger shadow appeared behind him, "Lu?" it asked, its voice soft and angelic.

The smaller shadow nodded, a small smile on its face, "don't worry old friend." He said, his voice sounding rough and gravely from disuse but gentile nonetheless, he turned and began leading the larger mass away. "Your child is in safe hands, and I can tell the boy will protect it and help it grow strong, stronger than you are actually."

"Lu," The bigger mass nodded as it took one last look at the egg under Ash's arm before disappearing into the forest.

Though before he disappeared, the smaller figure also took a look back as the sunlight peeked through the branches, revealing an amber eye. _'Your journey is only just beginning Ash. Take care of that egg and train hard when it hatches and one day you will know why I had to leave you two. Fair well…my son.'_He thought before he was lost in the darkness of the forest.

'_Back with Ash'_

When the lab came into sight, he ran to the door and knocked hard. "Professor Oak! Professor Oak, get up! I need to talk to you!" He shouted loudly, banging a fist against the wooden door.

Behind the door, he could hear the chuckling voice of Professor Oak as he came closer. "Alright my boy, hold your horses, I'm coming."

When the door opened, he barely had time to see Oaks still half asleep face and ruffed up hair before he shoved the egg into the man's face. "Look what I found in the forest Professor!" He said excitedly.

"Oh what do we have here?" the professor inquired as he quirked a brow in interest, fully awake now.

"It's an egg." Ash supplied helpfully, a beaming smile on his face.

"Yes my boy. I can see that." Oak chuckled patting the boy on the head and allowing the child, egg still in hand, into the lab.

Ash quickly ran inside and carefully set the Pokémon egg down on top of the professor's desk and took a seat in the chair in front of it

"I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of Pokémon would hatch from it." Ash asked his eyes following the professor as he walked over to the desk and leaned over the egg, examining it and running his hands over the markings in the sides.

This went on for well over five minutes as the professor continued to poke and prod at the egg, and every now and then a small mutter or gasp would escape his lips as he found a new detail to the clue of the identity of the Pokémon inside it.

Not many people knew this, but one could tell what species a Pokémon egg belonged to from its shape, texture and the design on the shell. For instance, if the egg belonged to a Balbasaur then the egg would be a dark green in color and would have three of the spots common to the species somewhere near the top, while a Charmander egg would by a light red in color and have darker red spots dotting the shell. What professor Oak was doing was the most common and more practiced ways to find out the species, there were other ways, but not all of them where as gentile as this one was. And with each passing minuet Ash's excitement grew.

Finally Oak placed his hand on the egg's top and he jumped back in shock, looking between his hand in wonder he let out a low whistle and he ran his hand through his hair as a surprised chuckle escaped his lips.

Seeing he was done with his inspection was finished, Ash could no longer contain the excitement boiling up in his system. "Come on Professor! Tell me what it is!" he shouted enthusiastically, practically jumping in his seat from excitement.

Oak nodded to the excited child, but his face now held a look of extreme seriousness, a look he only got in the most important of situations. "I'll get to that my boy. But before that tell me, where did you find this?" he asked, causing Ash to stop jumping and puffed out his cheeks at not learning what Pokémon was inside his discovery.

"I found it on the side of the path in the forest when I was looking for cool stuff to help me on my Pokémon journey." He admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"It was weird though professor, there was a bright flash of light and when it cleared it was suddenly there." He said in amazement as he remembered the recent event.

"Very well then." Oak said nodding as he rubbed his chin in thought.

He chuckled again when Ash's attention returned to the egg on the desk, his exuberance returning, "Well what is it?" he asked again almost jumping out of his seat when the professor turned his own attention to the egg a small smile adorning his face.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, this belongs to the Lugia species." Oak explained, surprised that such a young boy would find an egg of a legendary Pokémon on the side of a forest path.

"Lu..gi..a?" Ash asked in confusion, he'd never heard of the Pokémon before and was curious as to what it was.

Oak nodded, "I must admit, Ash, this is quiet the find. Lugia is one of the few Pokémon with legendary status, and finding the Pokémon itself is rare, finding its egg is even rarer. In fact I thought it was a Pokémon of myth until now."

Ash stared at the egg in amazement, finding out he had just found an egg of a legendary Pokémon was a shock. And even more of one when Oak spoke, "Would you like to keep it?" he asked, causing the spiky haired boy to look at him in surprise. "I mean I'm too tied up with raising Gary and working with the Pokémon living here, so I doubt I would have the time required to look after an egg." He said, smirking lightly at his idea.

If he could get Ash to take the egg in then he'd be able to study it throughout the baby Pokémon's development since Ash and his mother spent a lot of time at the lab anyway, mix that in with the fact that Ash still had a number of years before his journey started and he'd be able to study the young Lugia after it hatched and find out its secrets.

Ash stared at the professor for awhile as he processed the predicament he suddenly found himself in. If he did keep the egg than he would have a Pokémon of his own, and before anyone his age to! But then again, his mother was pretty serious when it came to things like this, she didn't want him to have an unfair advantage over the others his age. Ash smirked to himself as an idea came to him, he could always use _the look_ to convince her. She never could resist it when he unleashed it on her, though not that he used it often since he didn't like using it often.

He turned back to the professor with a bright smile and he nodded excitedly, "I'll do it professor! I'll take care of Lugia when it hatches!" he said excitedly, literally jumping out of his seat in excitement

Oak nodded at the child happy that he had decided to do what was right and responsible; he could see the resemblance between him and his father more than he ever could in at the moment.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Ash picking up the egg from the desk top and running outside until the door clicked shut behind him.

Shaking his head from his thoughts Oak chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm as he watched him run down the street from the window, the Lugia egg clutched tightly in his arms as the boy held it close to his chest.

Little did either of the two know that the story of that day and the following adventures would one day be told as the greatest of all legends.

* * *

**Hope you liked the first chapter! Please review. And as for my other story, I will update as soon as I can and thanks for all of the reviews on it.**


End file.
